STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY STUDIES OF PHOTOACTIVATED ANTIVIRAL AND CYTOTOXIC TRICYCLIC THIOPHENES

The photoactivated antiviral and cytotoxic activities of the naturally occurring thiophene, alpha-terthienyl (1), and 15 synthetic analogues were evaluated against murine cytomegalovirus and Sindbis virus, and murine mastocytoma cells. After irradiation with near UV light, alpha-terthienyl and most of its analogues had significant toxicity, with minimum inhibitory concentrations in the range of 0.02-40 microM. In the absence of near UV irradiation, only one analogue had antiviral activity and five were cytotoxic. The most active analogues were those containing carboxylic acid, hydroxyl, or cyano substituents. Quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis of thiophene phototoxicity suggested that the rate of singlet oxygen production is the primary determinant of antiviral and cytotoxic activities. For phototoxicity against murine cytomegalovirus, a significant role for hydrophobicity was also demonstrated. Tricyclic thiophenes show significant potential for photochemotherapy of viral infections and cancer, and further evaluation in animal models is recommended.     

Effects of Added Surfactant on the Dynamic Interfacial Tension Behavior of Acidic Oil/Alkaline Systems

The effects of a ready-made surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate) on the dynamic interfacial tension between a model acidic oil (linoleic acid dissolved in paraffin oil) and various aqueous alkaline (NaOH) systems have been studied using pendant drop tensiometry at surfactant concentrations both below and above the critical micelle concentration (CMC). Below the CMC the added surfactant contributes significantly to a further reduction of interfacial tension of the reacting acid/alkaline system, whereas above the CMC the added surfactant plays an important role in damping the dynamic trends observed for the reactive system alone. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Post-lactonization of vinyl polymers containing pendent ester and hydroxymethyl groups

Copolymers of methyl methacrylate with methyl and ethyl α-hydroxymethylacrylate and with α-hydroxymethylstyrene have been prepared with free-radical initiators at temperatures below 80°C. At higher reaction temperatures or under extrusion conditions, alcohol was eliminated and the free hydroxyl content was greatly decreased. All evidence indicates the formation of six-membered lactone groups in this post-polymerization reaction: direct evidence for their formation is lacking, however, since neither infrared nor nuclear magnetic resonance spectra could be used to detect lactonization in this system. The loss of activity from ¹⁴C ester-labeled methyl methacrylate copolymer on heating could be correlated with the extent of lactonization. The degree of lactonization is relatively less with copolymers containing higher amounts of hydroxymethyl groups. The resulting polymers exhibit higher heat distortion temperatures and decreased impact resistance when compared to poly(methyl methacrylate). Attempts were made to incorporate similar lactone structures by cyclocopolymerization with methyl methacrylate of α-methacryloxymethylstyrene or ethyl α-methacryloxymethylacrylate, but only crosslinked polymers or polymers with pendent unsaturation were found.     

Oriented local entropies for expansive actions by commuting automorphisms

Given an expansive action α of ?² by automorphisms of a compact connected metrizable abelian groupX, we show how the entropy of the action may be decomposed into local contributions, 1 $$h(\alpha ) = \sum\limits_{p \leqslant \infty } {h_p^{(a,b)} } (\alpha )$$ in which the summandh _p ^(a,b) (α) represents thep-adic entropy due to arithmetic or geometric hyperbolicity in the direction (a, b). We recognize thep-adic contribution as an integral over thep-adic unit circle, in analogy with the global counterpart. As (a, b) changes, the decomposition (1) changes only when the line through (a, b) passes through one of a finite collection of critical directions, which are explicitly identified.     

Reactivity patterns of thermally stable, terminal, electrophilic phosphinidene complexes towards diazoalkanes: oxidation at the phosphorus centre and formation of P-bound eta1-phosphaazine, eta1-phosphaalkene and eta3-diazaphosphaallene complexes

The thermally stable, terminal phosphinidene complexes [CpM(CO)2(eta1-PNiPr2)]AlCl4(Cp= Cp, Cp*; M = Fe) and [Cp*M(CO)3(eta1-PNiPr2)]AlCl4 (M = Cr, Mo, W) react with Ph2C=N=N to form terminal P-coordinated eta1-phosphaazine and eta3-diazaphosphaallene ligands, respectively, whereas [CpFe(CO)2(eta1-PNiPr2)]AlCl4 reacts with Me3SiCHN2 affording a terminal phosphorus bound eta1-phosphaalkene complex.     

Selective modification of the 2-position of pyridoxol

Pyridoxol, protected by acetylation of the hydroxyl groups, has been converted to its N-oxide which upon reaction with perfluoroacetie anhydride yields a 2-nor-2-hydroxymethylpyridoxol derivative as an intermediate. This compound undergoes acyl migration from the 3-position. Protection of the pyridoxol hydroxyls by benzylalion followed by the same treatment yields the unrearranged α²-hydroxy derivative. This compound has been converted to a series of α²-substituted pyridoxols (X = -Cl, -Br, -OCOCH₃, -OCH₃, -OC₂H₅).